


I Would Teach  My Feet to Fly

by babydraco



Series: Hot Blood, Hot Thoughts and Hot Deeds:  Reign AU Fics [4]
Category: Historical RPF, Reign (TV)
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Issues, Father-Daughter Relationship, Female!James, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hero Worship, Ice Skating, Illegitimacy, Insecurity, Kid Fic, Period-Typical Sexism, Rule 63, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-01-05 14:07:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12191382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babydraco/pseuds/babydraco
Summary: A  short fic  set in my  Reign  Rule 63  universe.Little  Isobel gets to spend  a whole  day with her  hero,  her father King James.





	1. Chapter 1

Isobel Stewart was five and her father was going to teach her his favorite sport, he was going to show her how to skate on the ice. Father had promised he would if he came to visit and the loch was frozen. He bought her a pair of special small skates which he helped her strap onto her boots. As they inched across the ice, her tiny mittened hand anxiously clutching his big one, Father described the court skating parties, with hot drinks, pastries, games and races and ladies in the latest fashions. Then he said, “I'm going to let go now”.

“What?” 

Isobel made it five feet before her legs flew out from under her and she landed hard on her bottom on the ice. It was the shock and sudden loss of control, more than the pain, that made her eyes sting as she stared up at the pink sky and the high hills around the loch. 

“Are you hurt?” Father called. He skated over quickly. 

“Nay,” Isobel admitted. Not injured, just embarrassed. 

“Falling down is part of it,” Father said. “It's like learning to walk all over again. If you're not hurt, you must get up and try again.”

“I cannae,” she whined, flapping her arms like a helpless baby bird. Her layers and layers of good Scottish wool and petticoats kept her toasty warm and made wonderful padding but prevented her from getting up on her own. Father laughed, he lifted her by her armpits and set her back on her feet.

“Sorry, I let go too soon,” Father said. “Shall we keep trying?”

“Yes, Father,” Isobel sniffed. She didn't want to continue to disappoint him by quitting. She had to be good at things he liked, or he would not keep teaching her and playing with her when he came to visit her mother. She would not be worthy of the king's attention. 

“Come now, dry your eyes, we'll start again, one foot in front of the other.” With a gentle hand on her back, he helped her move forward until she could make her own clumsy circles across the ice. After that, she learned how to execute turns, and Father had her go fast so he could show her how to stop herself. Before the sky got dark, Father even helped Isobel use the blades to write her name on the ice in big letters.

“My Lord, who is this?” Mother asked with exaggerated surprise. She met them at the door with the two servants who took their coats. 

“Lady Margaret, this bonny lass is my daughter, Princess Isobel,” Father said. “She's traveled a long way and needs hot soup and a bed.”

“And a handkerchief,” Mother said, retrieving one from her bodice to dab at the runny red tip of Isobel's nose. “The princess is in luck, we have a hearty venison stew waiting for her in the nursery.”

“I wrote my name on the loch,” Isobel announced, squirming in Father's arms. “It's mine now.”

“Oh, is that so?” Mother laughed. 

“As king, I make it so,” Father said. “There's probably a legal precedent.”

“It's yours until the ice melts,” Mother said. She looked at Father with a different sort of smile and light in her eyes. “My Lord, I watched you from the window. You're so very good with her and...do you know how attractive women find a man who's good with bairns?”

“How attractive?” Father teased, as if he did not know he was the most handsome man in Scotland. 

“I'll be waiting in my chambers tonight.” Her parents kissed passionately. Isobel hid her face in Father's shoulder, blushing and giggling. She loved romance and seeing people kiss and her heart raced every time she thought about how her parents were about to get their own happy ending of being married for real.

Isobel went with her nanny to eat dinner in the nursery, and wash her face, hands and feet with hot water and towels. She was put into her nightgown, and the nanny was just finished brushing her dark curls out when Father came in to say goodnight. Isobel smiled into her fancy silver looking glass. All the most glamorous ladies had beauty routines, she had seen them get ready for bed just as intently, so she'd concluded that looking good before going to sleep was important, although she did not know why. But she always slept better after she did her hair and pretended to put on face cream. 

“Your Majesty,” the nanny murmured, curtsying as Father entered in his dressing gown. 

“Thank you, you're dismissed.” Father nodded in return, she left the room. “Isobel, have you used the privy? Did you say your prayers?”

“Yes, Father.” She'd only done one of those. Isobel padded over in her knitted booties and clambered up into the high bed using a padded stool. Father tucked the quilt around her. 

“And are you warm enough? It's going to be even colder tonight, I'll put another log on your fire before I go.”

“I'm warm. Father, it's snowing!” She snuggled in deeper, watching the big fat flakes drift past her window. 

“You'll have to stay inside for the morning, instead of going out you can show me everything you're learning from your governess and dancing master.” He bopped her nose with his finger and she laughed. She was going to show him what a good dancer she was and how she could walk almost all the way across the room without the book falling off her head and use a fork. And he would want to know how she was progressing in French, and maths and Latin. Maybe if travel was bad enough, he'd have to stay longer. The weather could even delay her mother's husband Lord Douglas, from coming home too soon and being embarrassed at having to pretend he wasn't bothered by having Father around. He couldn't make Father leave if Father didn't want to, but Father probably would anyway. And then everything would be tense and unhappy. Maybe Lord Douglas wouldn't come back at all, and Mother wouldn't have to get divorced. She didn't want him to die, just quietly go away so nobody would feel hurt and she could go live at court with Father and the rest of his children. 

“When you and Mother marry, are you going to make another baby?” Isobel asked. 

“We plan to,” Father said carefully. “Would you like to have a little brother?”

“Uh huh. I could take care of him. Um.” She hugged her cloth doll to her chest. “Will I have to kiss Prince Edmund and make babies with him when I get married? He's a baby now.” He was two years old and she had only ever seen a hastily made portrait of a grumpy looking little redhead. 

“Yes, but you'll both be all grown up, you'll be fifteen. And his father was handsome in his youth, his mother is beautiful, so I think it won't be such a chore.”

“I have to?” Looking up at him through her eyelashes, she gave him her best playfully exaggerated pout, the one she used to get extra candy. He smiled, but did not fall for it this time. 

“Pet, we talked about this. All of us have a job to do. A princess uses marriage to make an alliance for her family. Marrying Prince Edmund will help make peace with England and the Tudors.”

“We're always fighting them for centuries and no one ever wins,” Isobel observed. After all, Grandmother was an English princess and she sometimes made things worse, that's why no one was supposed to tell her Father and Mother planned to marry. Isobel had overheard Father telling someone she'd 'fucking ruin it if she had the chance'. Isobel didn't take much after her grandmother, she would try hard to do a good job as a princess. 

“That's because they have more money and bigger weapons but we have better fighters and worse weather,” Father explained. “ You don't want to have to go to war, do you? But unlike a boy, you can save so many lives without ever picking up a sword. That's a very special gift. ”

“Well, I want to be a mummy,” Isobel whispered. She kissed the top of her doll's head. All the things Father was paying to have her learn, they were to make her into the perfect wife for an English prince. He sounded so happy and proud of her that she couldn't talk about being scared of moving to England and making babies with a stranger. Father was never afraid of anything, especially not England. “Father, can you tell another story?”

“Of course, something new or?”

“Tell another one about the Star Princess and the Sky Bears?” Isobel asked hopefully. She burrowed further into the blankets. That was always a good series for cold and snowy nights.


	2. The Portrait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But what would the Tudors think of a possible match with Isobel?

London, England, 1535

“I wonder if we should press for the marriage to take place sooner,” Henry said. Servants shuffled around them, unfolding an easel and placing a canvas covered square on it.

“And why is that?” Anne sighed.

“My nephew may be an annoyingly fertile idiot but he loves his children. As long as we have his daughter, he’ll settle down. Let's show Eddie what he’s getting.” Henry gestured to the painter’s assistant, who lifted the canvas to reveal the quickly dashed off portrait of the future barbarian princess.

“Pretty,” Edmund murmured, patting the image with his chubby little fingers in a way the girl might have hated if she actually stood in front of them. Henry stroked the back of his son’s head, combing his fingers through the copper colored hair.

“You like her, then? Her name is Lady Isobel and she just turned five years old. In a few years, she’s going to be your wife. Once we sign the papers, she’ll belong only to you.”

“Pretty wife,” Edmund said. “Mine.” He was otherwise confused and struck dumb with awe. Anne didn’t appreciate the way her husband spoke of Lady Isobel, emphasizing her status as a trophy. It was far too close to the tone her own father had used when he presented her with her first thoroughbred horse. Look at the expensive toy Papa bought you. You barely know the difference between boys and girls, but here’s the first lesson, you’re a person, she’s an object.

“A wife is a special friend to play with, “Anne said. “And when you’re older, you’ll make a family like ours.”

She contemplated the portrait depicting her potential daughter in law. Master Holbein had captured the image of an almost unfairly attractive child. Fair skinned and with large dark eyes, her blue and gold French hood covered thick raven ringlets and the quirk of her small pink mouth suggested a certain vivaciousness. In spite of her demure pose, the girl seemed caught in mid mischievous giggle. The Scottish girl could grow up to be a dangerous presence at Anne’s court, too pretty and flirtatious for her own good.

“I think she could be trouble,” Anne admitted. 

“Don’t be ridiculous, my love,” Henry replied, “How much trouble could one little girl cause?”

**Author's Note:**

> James V never appears onscreen, everything we know about the Reign version is learned second or third hand. Lady Margaret Erskine's existence is acknowledge in one line (most adaptations seem to treat her as if she's already dead, when she in fact, outlived her son the Earl). So I made a lot of educated guesses for the king's (probably) single appearance in the Rule 63verse.  
> But apparently  
> 1) James V really loved ice skating, which is a cute, humanizing fact to learn about a historical figure  
> 2) His mother totally tattled on him re his plan to get a divorce for his mistress  
> The plan fell apart, the child became a bastard and he had to marry someone else. This is around the same time Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were imploding. In the ficverse, that combination means Isobel's betrothal (which wasn't a thing for James-future-Earl-of-Moray in RL or in Reign canon) is quickly dissolved.
> 
> [River](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2t9J4YBI_0) (Sarah McLachlan covering Joni Mitchell)


End file.
